Although the flaw is not exploitable remotely, it is sure to be of concern to administrators of shared systems, such as public shell servers and possibly some university servers, although the use of Linux shell servers in Australian universities is not yet common.
The security glitch allows low-level users of Linux-based systems with shell accounts to gain full privileges, hence totally compromising the machine.
In an e-mail posted to a kernel developer's mailing list, Linux guru Alan Cox said that although the patch provided for the security hole will affect raw functionality slightly, it is unlikely to cause any problems for administrators.
"We believe this is necessary and that it will not affect any software. The functionality change is specific to unusual debugging situations," he said.
Some hosting providers to offer shell accounts on their servers, as do some ISPs.
What a useless article.
How about some details, or at least a pointer to someone who may know something.